Ep 13 — The Spirit of Tawhid: Negating Servitude to Other Than God

Session 11: The Spirit of Tawhid: Negating Servitude to Other Than God. Sunday, 7 Mehr 1353 / 12 Ramadan al-Mubarak 1394 Surat al-An'am (6:114-116). …Shall I then seek a judge other than God, when it is He who has sent down to you the Book, set out in detail? And those to whom We gave the Book know that it is sent down from your Lord in truth — so do not be among the doubters. And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and justice; there is none who can change His words, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. However much we reflect, it turns out that Tawhid is not something one can pass over so easily. First, it is the foundation of belief. Second, it is the principal practical reality of the individual and of society. Third, the believing, monotheist Muslim community knows very little about it — indeed, one could say they know nothing of it. In the old maktab schools children were taught that God is one and not two, yet most monotheists know nothing real about the various dimensions of Tawhid right up to the years near their departure from this world. A subject this important, about which our people know so little, deserves to be spoken about at greater length. As it happens, the verses of the Qur'an match this importance: they speak about Tawhid in many places and in many tones. Even if I went on speaking about this important principle of belief and practice for several more days, the noble verses of the Qur'an would still yield testimonies and examples to clarify the point we have in view. What we are reading today draws attention to a fresh aspect of Tawhid — one alluded to yesterday as well, which today we will address in fuller detail. That reading closes with they follow nothing but conjecture, and they do nothing but guess. These are from several verses, which of course we have translated here and at the end will explain — briefly. And: And do not eat of that over which the name of God has not been mentioned; that is indeed a transgression. And truly the satans inspire their friends to dispute with you; and if you obey them, you are surely idolaters (mushrikun). Here is the gist of the matter, from today's point of view. At one time, people worship someone in the sense that they regard him as sacred, as possessing powers above the natural world — certain idols, for instance, or certain "saints" (qiddisin) have been worshipped by peoples throughout history this way. From the word "worship," this is what first comes to mind. When we say that worshipping God is obligatory, this same sanctification is what comes to our minds — this same state of spiritual and heartfelt reverence. Christians ascribe a kind of sanctity to Jesus (peace be upon him) or to his pure and immaculate mother Mary (the blessings of God upon her): before an imagined statue of Christ or Mary they kneel, they weep, they worship him. This is one common, widespread sense of worship. Beyond this sense there is another meaning — call it another corner of the same concept — which can also be called worship, and the Qur'an uses "worship" in this sense too. Suppose someone is worshipped in this second manner, which we will now explain. Suppose some people worship a being, a human being, in the very manner we are about to describe. This too is a kind of worship of other than God. The upshot: worship is not only a person bending and bowing before some being, prostrating, praying to him, praising him, stretching out his hands toward him in humility — sanctifying him, revering him, holding him higher. That is not the whole of worship. Other acts, too, can be called worship — and when we say "can be called," we are not inventing this ourselves. There is another act — still the same point, not a third matter — which we also call worship. It is not we who say so; the Qur'an says it is worship. So in the culture of the Qur'an there is a broader sense of "worship," and we must discover it. Then, if we wish to worship God and not worship other than God — that is, if we wish to be monotheists and followers of Tawhid — we can take care not to unknowingly perform this second kind of worship before something other than the Lord of the worlds. This is precisely the trap most of the world's monotheists fell into. To all appearances they were performing no sanctification before other than God, prostrating before no person or object but God. Yet in practice — in thought, in heart, in spirit — they have been worshipping other than God in this second sense. What is the second meaning of worship? It is very simple. There is a word for it in Persian, a word current and on everyone's tongue: "obedience" (ita'at). To obey anyone unconditionally is to worship him. Take a person who obeys someone — an individual, or a human society — without condition, making that one's command the thing to be followed (muttaba') in his life, in his body and soul, in his deeds. He has worshipped him. On what authority do we say this? On the authority of the verses of the Qur'an. It is the Qur'an that interprets "worship" for us as "obedience." Consider 'Adi ibn Hatim al-Ta'i — the son of the famous Hatim, though this 'Adi himself ranks far higher and is more honored than his father. When he entered Medina, the Noble Messenger saw a cross-cord (zunnar) hung around his neck, and on that account began reciting this verse to him: They took their rabbis and their monks as lords besides God, and also the Messiah, son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship none but One God. The verse means that the Christians and Jews took their rabbis and their monks — their scholars and their ascetics — and the Messiah son of Mary as their lords and gods, when God Most High had commanded them to worship none but the One God. When this verse reached the ears of 'Adi ibn Hatim, he turned and objected: O Prophet of God, this is not correct! When did we ever take our rabbis and monks as our lord? When did we ever worship them? He was objecting to the Prophet and to the verse of the Qur'an itself. Why? Because in his mind, "worship" carried the very meaning it now carries in yours: the gentlemen are performing worship — supplication, a state coupled with sanctification, whether of the heart, or of the heart and tongue, or of the heart and tongue and body, as in the ritual prayer. So when 'Adi ibn Hatim, holding worship in that sense, saw the verse of the Qur'an say that these people worshipped their scholars and ascetics and took them as their lord and master, it seemed to him objectionable. He said: No, this is not correct. When did we Christians ever worship our rabbis and monks? In answer to 'Adi ibn Hatim's notion, the Noble Prophet replied: Yes — you did not prostrate before them (I am conveying the substance of the Prophet's words), but whatever they said, you accepted unconditionally. A saying is related: "But they made lawful for you what was forbidden, and forbade you what was lawful." They made God's forbidden things appear lawful in your eyes, and made God's lawful things appear forbidden — and you obeyed whatever they said unconditionally, without any concern to grasp the reality of the matter. This is worship; this is what it means to take a being as one's lord and master. On this same theme there is also a narration from Imam al-Sadiq (the blessings and peace of God upon him); those who wish may consult Nur al-Thaqalayn under this very verse. In the culture of the Qur'an, to worship a being other than God is to obey that being. That being may be a political power, or a religious power, or an inner factor such as the human soul (nafs) with its carnal and lustful inclinations. It may even be a being outside oneself that holds no centralized political or religious power at all — a woman, a single human for whom one holds an unwarranted reverence, a friend. To obey any of these is to worship them. Whoever obeys someone or something has worshipped it. Consider a narration that shows how widespread this Qur'anic culture is throughout the Islamic sources, and especially the Shi'i sources — both Qur'an and Hadith. It comes from Imam al-Jawad (the blessings and peace of God upon him), who says: A saying is related: "Whoever lends an ear to a speaker has worshipped him." The sphere of worship is far broader than obedience: even giving someone your full attention — all six senses — is to worship him. You will object: Then are we not to listen even to correct words? The hadith goes on to answer that. "And if the speaker speaks on behalf of God, Mighty and Majestic, then he has worshipped God." Suppose the one who speaks — the one who has drawn your full attention and your faculties toward himself — speaks from the tongue of God. Then you, having given him your heart and your mind, having entrusted him your thought and spirit, are worshipping God. "And if the speaker speaks from the tongue of Iblis, then he has worshipped Iblis." But suppose that speaker is speaking from the tongue of Satan, from the tongue of Iblis — arguing against the logic and the philosophy of divine thought — and you are listening submissively and in acceptance. Then in that very state you are engaged in satanic worship and obedience. That speaker is himself Satan, absolutely. We do not mean he is the representative of Satan or the loudspeaker of Satan — no; he himself is Satan, in the sense in which we defined Satan, which is also the Qur'anic meaning of Satan. To obey such a being — who is not even a political power, not even a religious power — unconditionally, is to worship him. So anyone who wishes to worship God alone and to have worshipped nothing besides God — that is, to be a monotheist, a worshipper of the One, oriented to the One — must reserve his absolute obedience for the Lord of the worlds, the great God. Follow the law unconditionally, and you have worshipped it. Follow the social order, and you have worshipped it. Obey customs and traditions, and you have worshipped them. So which law are we to act by? Are we to act by no law at all? By no customs or traditions? To follow no order or system? Of course we are — but make all of it divine, so that as you obey and follow, you remain a servant of God, engaged in the worship of God. See how broad a person's horizon becomes. See how the events of history become interpretable for a person. The prophets, when they came, all came with the idea of Tawhid. In the discussion of prophethood we will expound this from the Qur'an. All the great divine prophets came to make people monotheists. And what does that mean? It means to unfasten the chains of obedience to other than God from their hands and necks. The Qur'an itself states this meaning explicitly in one place: …that He may lift from them their burden and the shackles that were upon them. When you look at Tawhid from this standpoint, you see that it is a thought, a principle, fundamentally for living: connected to the social order, connected to the orientation of human beings in every circumstance, connected to the quality of life of human societies. See how greatly this Tawhid differs from the dry, brainless, lifeless, ignorant "God is one and not two." Tawhid means this. Now, I have found many instances of this in the verses of the Qur'an. Had I wanted to bring here every place where this meaning is clearly to be derived from the Qur'an, I would have needed at least five or six pages. I have brought two of them — two examples that make two things clear: that obedience to other than God is the worship of it, and that pure Tawhid, the spirit and foundation of religion, consists in a person obeying God exclusively, following the divine program, the divine order. Just two examples are mentioned here, and with this idea in hand you can turn to the Qur'an and find the subject throughout. Refer to the Qur'an. Try to become acquainted with it; try not to depend on my coming and explaining the verses to you. Bring yourselves near to this boundless treasure, this shoreless sea. I have given this counsel again and again, and whenever I fail to give it I feel a burden on my shoulders. So first I feel it my duty to tell you: you must refer to the Qur'an. This vast, shoreless ocean is such that "It is the sea — from whatever side you come to it"; from whichever side you approach, you derive some benefit. Whoever keeps company with the Qur'an gains something. In whatever way, in whatever style — have some foundation, so that you can understand this language at least a little, and you will gain a share; and the more you refer to it, the more illumined and aware you become. The Commander of the Faithful (the blessings and peace of God upon him) is reported in the Nahj al-Balagha to have said much the same: "No one has ever sat in the company of this Qur'an without rising from it with an increase or a decrease — an increase in guidance or a decrease in blindness." This is the word of the Commander of the Faithful. No one ever sat in the companionship of the Qur'an, he says, without rising from beside it changed: a gain in him, and a loss. "An increase in guidance" — his way-finding, his guidance, grew. "A decrease in blindness" — the hard-heartedness, the blindness of his spirit and understanding and inner self, was diminished. See how the sentence of the Commander of the Faithful begins: "No one has ever sat in the company of this Qur'an…" No one — general, isn't it? Absolute. I offer this reminder, though it was only a marginal note in parentheses, to draw the attention of you all, brothers and sisters, to it. Why have I given this reminder about the Qur'an? So that you may know, brothers and sisters, that over the course of time endless traps have been prepared to keep people away from the Qur'an. One of these pretexts — and a group of ignorant or ill-intentioned people still repeat it today — is this: "Sir! No one understands the Qur'an except the Infallible Imams (the blessings of God upon them); it is the Infallible Imams who understand the Qur'an." About this statement I can say only one word — the very thing the Commander of the Faithful (the blessings of God upon him) said about the slogan of the Kharijites of Nahrawan, when he declared: "A word of truth by which falsehood is intended." The statement is correct, but the intent of the one who utters it is base and malicious. Yes! The Imams of guidance have mastery over the Qur'an, a mastery beyond which nothing higher is conceivable. They are those lofty, great spirits who hold the Qur'an in their grasp; they themselves are each a Qur'an — there is no dispute in this. But that the Imam (peace be upon him) knows the Qur'an very well does not mean that you and I, sir, understand not a single word of it, cannot grasp even a husk of the Qur'an. It is correct that the Imams of guidance (the blessings and peace of God upon them) are the knowers and the learned with respect to the Qur'an. But the one who says this does not intend to exalt the Imam; he intends for you to remain far from the Qur'an. He is like that poor fellow whom they told to pray, and he said: O sir, if prayer is what my master 'Ali performed, then why should I pray at all? As it is said: If prayer were what that wronged one performed, then he has deprived others of this act. This logic is the very same logic. If they understand the Qur'an, then why should we and you open the Qur'an any longer? O wretched one! O deprived one! O you deprived of the teachings of the Qur'an — woe to you! Woe to you! Woe to you who do not understand the Qur'an — but greater woe to you if, not understanding it yourself, you also prevent the people from understanding it; if you will not let the thirsty draw from this overflowing, gushing spring. Woe to you! Woe to those who keep people away from the Qur'an, who frighten people off from it, who — on various pretexts — will not let people open the Qur'an with the aim of understanding. Woe to them! And you must know, brothers and sisters, that today we are dealing with the Qur'an, just as the Prophet of God has said: "When tribulations beset you like pieces of the dark night, then keep to the Qur'an." On the day when tribulations cast their shadow over your life like pieces of a black night, hold fast to the Qur'an. And when is that day? Do we not see the dark, night-like tribulations? Do we not behold the wrong roads before our blind and short-sighted eyes? Do not the seeing eyes behold the thieves and ogres and highwaymen from every side and in every shape? So when must one turn to the Qur'an? When the Imam of the Age (the blessings of God upon him) comes? But he himself is the speaking Qur'an. Today is the day when we must refer to the Qur'an. The first condition of this is that we understand the Qur'an. I have found two portions of the verses related to today's discussion; you search and find ten more portions. I counsel the brothers who are able to understand the Qur'an — the outward sense of the Qur'an's sentences, the Arabic-to-Persian translations — to be sure to pay attention. Those who cannot, let them build that ability in themselves. Study Arabic, learn the Qur'an, take lessons in the Qur'an, make yourselves intimate with the Qur'an, become friends with the Qur'an. Every day and every hour that passes without intimacy with the Qur'an is a cause for regret. The first portion is from Surat al-An'am. One must attend to the tone of the Qur'an, because the Qur'an is not like ordinary books that say, "Chapter so-and-so, on the meaning of obedience and worship" — it is not like that. The level of expression and content of the Qur'an, and the Speaker of the Qur'an, is far above these ordinary levels. For the Lord of the worlds, all created things and all beings are on a single level; that is why a verse came down regarding a given matter in the manner that the occasion of revelation required. From the verse's allusions, from the expressions and sentences within the verse, from the manner of its construction (siyaq), you find the point you have in view. Shall I then seek a judge (hakam) other than God? Shall I accept and seek anyone other than God as judge? The commentators have said "hakam" means both arbiter and ruler: the one from whom a person seeks judgment — that is, from whom he seeks command, or from whom he seeks arbitration — either way is called "hakam." And God Most High is both the best arbiter and the best ruler. The command, too, must be given by God: Surely His are the creation and the command. Know that creation and command belong to God. He Himself has created, and He Himself also commands. "Shall I then seek a judge other than God?" — Shall I seek any ruler, commander, or arbiter other than God? "When it is He who has sent down to you the Book, set out in detail" — it is God who has sent down this collection, the Qur'an, to you in detail, with elucidation, without admixture or commingling. "Set out in detail" (mufassalan) — meaning without any confusion in its discussions, without its matters being jumbled, without the speech of other than God being mixed into it. "Set out in detail" — that is, made clear (mubayyanan), with complete and perfect clarification. "And those to whom We gave the Book" — those to whom We have given the Book — "know that it is sent down from your Lord in truth" — they know that this Qur'an has been sent down from your Lord, in truth; it has truly been sent down from God, has come from God. "So do not be among the doubters." So do not be of the doubters and the wavering ones — the address is to the Prophet — do not be hesitant! Do not be shaken and of two hearts! You who know that this Book has come from your Lord, that God gave the Book to you and you are aware, you are certain — do not be hesitant; be resolute. "And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and justice." It is complete, sealed, irreversible — the command of your Lord, founded upon truth and upon firmness. And the Lord's command was this: that the chain of prophethoods should come, raising the people step by step to the ultimate degree; then the final prophethood should come, placing human beings before a vast, limitless horizon and bestowing on them the means to journey, to run, to reach ever-greater perfection, so that they might travel in this field unto the infinite — "and to Him we shall return" — unto God. This command of the Lord, this measure, this word, was complete, sealed, irreversible. "There is none who can change His words" — no one can alter or transform His words and commands. "And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing" — hearer of the melody of your inner needs, and knower of the way and the manner you require. He is able to design and lay out a program for you. "And if you obey most of those on earth…" See how it prepares the listener's mind. In the first verse, the issue is the rule of God, who is most worthy of all to rule and judge. In the second, the issue is the irreversibility of God's religion and command: let the enemy and the disbeliever and the obstinate adversary do whatever wrong they will — God's command is ratified and complete. In the third verse, the point is that one must obey God, not one's desires and whims and caprices. "And if you obey most of those on earth, they will lead you astray from the path of God." Follow the majority of the people on earth, and "they will lead you astray from the path of God." "They follow nothing but conjecture" — they follow nothing but supposition, "and they do nothing but guess" — they are only guessing. The people act on illusion, on estimation, on conjecture. Those who fabricate and propose ways and methods and systems for people's lives — are they certain these ways are correct? If, out of naivete, they are certain, then one ought to wish them forty or fifty more years in this world, so they may see how their solid blueprints turned to ruin and how their forecasts turned out wrong. But they are not even certain; "they do nothing but guess." With estimation, with conjecture, with hypothesis and theory, they want to govern the people of the world, the human societies. But God governs no one by theory; He guides human beings to the straight path with the very text of reality, with real knowledge and science. "Surely your Lord — He knows best who strays from His path" — surely it is your Lord who knows best the state of those who go astray from His path — "and He knows best the rightly guided" — and He knows best those who are guided and rightly led. "Eat of that over which the name of God has been mentioned, if you are believers in His signs." You read this at first with utter astonishment. The verses just before it laid down general matters: that one must not obey the majority of people, that one must not follow conjecture and supposition, that the Lord's command regarding the final prophethood and religion is complete and unalterable. Then suddenly, after all these general statements, He says: eat of that over which the name of God has been pronounced; a sheep slaughtered with the name of God — you have the right to eat of this. A secondary matter! It seems astonishing — what connection do these have with one another? Whatever connection I draw is my own conception; there is no decisive proof of it. The field is open for understandings and thoughts; let people study and find its relevance — but some things occur to us, too. First: in the sight of the Lord, who is above this world and stands at a level and horizon beyond human conception, as we said, all matters are on a single level. For God, the general matters relating to humankind are no different from the particular matters; it is all one. Everything is one to Him. Whatever is a means to a human being's felicity is set forth as a command; it makes no difference whether that command is particular and secondary, bearing on one person, or general and universal, bearing on all of humankind — that is the first point. Second: let us properly dissect the matter of slaughter and ritual purification (tadhkiyah). What does it mean that the name of God must be pronounced when slaughtering an animal a person intends to eat? You know that the polytheists, and the tribes and nations deprived of Tawhid, used to invoke the name of their object of worship on every occasion, in every situation, for every act. "In the name of the Messiah," for example, as it is reported regarding the Christians. And worldly idols and worldly powers, too, always try to set their own name at the opening of every act. Any act begun in the name of other than God necessarily has a non-divine orientation. Begin a task for the sake of money, for the sake of carnal desire, for such matters — with that name, with that remembrance — and its direction, too, necessarily becomes the direction of that very thing, the thing whose name and remembrance you brought upon your tongue or into your mind at the start. A task done in the remembrance of money, and for money, is oriented toward making money. To the very end it proceeds so that money comes out of it. In its orientation, the act moves so that nothing but money is of any concern to it. But a task begun in the name of God, in the remembrance of God, has a divine orientation as well; its direction, too, accords with the command of God and keeps with the order of the Lord. They tell us that even the slaughtered animal — when you slaughter it, slaughter it with the name of God. That is, your most essential, most primary need, which is your food, must be with the name of God, must be for God. Even when you fill your stomach, you must fill it for God. The result is that filling the stomach is not the principle — God is the principle. If at some point you sense that, in wishing to fill your stomach, you will fall far from God, then abandon it — do not fill it, let it remain hungry, let it die of hunger, and let no movement issue from you contrary to the divine orientation. Why? Because the stomach, though a genuine need, is nevertheless not the principle in your life; in your life the principle is God and the orientation toward God. This is what "Bismillah" — uttered while slaughtering the sheep — teaches us; "Bismillah," uttered while taking a morsel and eating food, teaches us this. Begin with "Bismillah," even eating. Begin with "Bismillah," even the act of mating. Begin with "Bismillah" — even entering, going out, coming in, stepping through the door of the house or the door of the shop — every act. What does this mean? It means that every direction your life takes, in meeting any need, even the most basic, must fall in line with God's command, along the path of God (sabil Allah). Indeed my prayer, my rites of devotion, my living and my dying are for God, the Lord of the worlds. My prayer, my worship, my life, my death — yes, even my death — Abraham says: "for God, the Lord of the worlds," for God, the Disposer and Lord of the affairs of all the worlds. "He has no partner" — none whatsoever. The Lord of the worlds has no partner in any single domain of my life, not even in my eating. Not only in my praying, but in my movements and my efforts, I admit no partner alongside God. This whole realm of my being is at God's disposal, within the domain of His power and command. So when you slaughter the animal, slaughter it in this way. But the disbeliever — Qurayshi and non-Qurayshi alike — slaughters the animal, kills the sheep, eats his food, lives his life, opens his shop, and does it all not in the name of God, not with the remembrance of God, but in the name of other than God and with the remembrance of other than God. Take this slaughtered animal as a symbol; take the pronouncing of God's name over the sheep as a symbol. It is itself a ruling, a juristic ruling — and of course the name of God must certainly be pronounced — yet take it as a symbol too, a symbol of the essential and genuine needs of a human being. The slaughtering of the sheep must be done with the name of God. What does this mean? It means that even your most fundamental, most primary, most genuine needs you must regard as for the sake of God, and pursue for the sake of God. Even the morsel of bread you eat to relieve your hunger, eat it for the sake of God; for the sake of God relieve your hunger and breathe strength into your body. And it is plain that strength which has come into a person's body for the sake of God must also be spent for the sake of God. This is the logical conclusion, plain as two and two make four. See how precise it is. Eat of that over which the name of God has been mentioned, if you are believers in His signs. "And why should you not eat of that over which the name of God has been mentioned?" — what is the matter with you, for what reason, why "should you not eat" — "of that over which the name of God has been mentioned"? "When He has set out in detail for you what He has forbidden you, except that to which you are compelled" — God has laid out for you, in detail, what is forbidden to you, except in a state of necessity; apart from that, everything is lawful for you. "And surely many lead astray by their desires, without knowledge" — many lead people astray by their own whims, without any knowledge, without any insight. By the sheer caprice of their whims and desires they draw people into deviation and error. "Surely your Lord — He knows best the transgressors" — your Lord indeed knows best the transgressors and the aggressors. Those who draw people into deviation and error without possessing knowledge and learning are, by the indication of this verse, transgressors (mu'tadin), aggressors, men who commit aggression and enmity. And forsake the outward and inward of sin. Set aside both that whose sin is outward and that whose sin is hidden. Some acts carry outward evil: that the killing of a soul is an evil deed is plain; to take the life of a living being, without warrant, is plainly a wrongful act. Its being a sin is right there on the surface. But there are other acts whose sinfulness is not evident at all. There are many things a person never realizes the weight of: speaking without knowledge, following other than knowledge, treating the name and remembrance of God as trivial, obeying other than God, heeding the command of other than God. A person cannot imagine these could carry such great harm; their sinfulness is hidden. Yet both must be set aside. Whatever is sin, whether overt or hidden, must be forsaken. "And forsake the outward and inward of sin" — abandon the things that are outwardly sinful and the things that are inwardly sinful, whose being a sin is concealed. "Surely those who commit sin will be requited for what they used to perpetrate" — those who make sin their earning will be requited for the deeds they used to commit. "And do not eat of that over which the name of God has not been mentioned" — do not eat of what the name of God has not been pronounced over — "for that is indeed a transgression (fisq)" — this is fisq, a going out from religion. Here God places His emphasis on the importance of the remembrance of God and His name. "And truly the satans inspire…" — this final segment is the heart of our argument. Everything we have recited up to here gave us, step by step, indications useful for the point we are setting forth, and the more you ponder them, the clearer that point becomes. But the principal weight of our argument and citation rests here: And truly the satans inspire their friends to dispute with you — the satans, the poles of wickedness, fill up their agents, their friends, their confederates, so that these come and argue with you, contend with you, dispute with you. What is your duty before these friends of Satan? "And truly the satans inspire their friends to dispute with you" — but as for you — "and if you obey them, you are surely idolaters (mushrikun)" — if you obey them, follow them, you are idolaters. An idolater, very plainly. So obedience to Satan — the pole of wickedness, set over against the All-Merciful; Satan over against the All-Merciful; Satan over against God — obedience to Satan, or obedience to the friends of Satan, that is, his hirelings, his instruments, his servants: obedience to these turns you into an idolater. "And if you obey them" — and if you obey them — "you are surely" — you indeed — "idolaters" — you are certainly idolaters. That is one chapter. The second portion is from Surat al-Shu'ara', which I will render only briefly. The most striking and penetrating expressions on many themes, whether in the Qur'an or in Hadith, are set before people as images and scene-settings of the Resurrection. When the Qur'an — and the hadiths do the same — wants to portray a matter vividly for the listener, to drive it into the depths of his soul, it depicts a scene of the Resurrection, and the matter is reflected there. The present passage is of this kind. And Paradise will be brought near for the God-fearing. He is speaking of the Day of Resurrection, yet He speaks of it in the past tense. In Arabic, a future certain to occur can be expressed in the past tense. "The Hour drew near, and the moon was split" — meaning, it will be. So "And Paradise will be brought near for the God-fearing" means that Paradise was brought near and within reach for the pious. "And the Blazing Fire will be made manifest to those who went astray" — Hellfire was shown and made plain to those who had gone astray and been deceived. "Ghiwayah" means going astray; "We led them astray" means We deceived them. "Ghawin" means the astray and deluded. "And it will be said to them: Where is that which you used to worship besides God?" — it will be said to these deceived, astray ones: Where are those things and persons you worshipped in place of God? Where are the poles you were attached to in life, whose worship you performed? Here, take note of the word "worship": you used to worship them. But let us see what they were, those whom these people worshipped, so that the meaning of worship may become clear. "Can they help you, or help themselves?" — can these objects of your worship help you, or are they themselves helped from somewhere? It becomes clear that these objects of worship are in need of being helped — evidently they are human beings. They were of the human kind, not stone and wood and lifeless idols. "Then they will be flung headlong into it — they and those who strayed, and the hosts of Iblis, all together." So they are flung face-down into Hellfire — the objects of worship together with the deceived and astray, the followers of corruption — "and the hosts of Iblis, all together." The hosts of Iblis all together: everyone who in any way did a deed for Iblis, rendered him a service, took a single step on the path of leading God's creatures astray. In the Resurrection, Hell is the abode of them all; their appointment is there. "They will say, while disputing with one another therein…" — then, locked in contention, they fall upon each other, these against those and those against these. These cast the blame on the leaders, and the leaders cast the blame back on these. These say: It was you scoundrels who put the rope around our necks and dragged us behind you, by force. Those say: It was you who followed behind us. Each hurls a blow, a weapon, against the other group. "They will say" — "while disputing with one another therein" — while in Hellfire, locked in strife. "By God" — they swear by God — "surely we were in manifest error." We were in a manifest, vast, obvious error. Despite its obviousness, we did not realize we were astray. Yet had we come to ourselves even a little, we would have understood what a wrong road it was, what an evil road, what a dangerous path, what a deadly and destructive end. Had we thought even a little, these things would have become clear — and still, even so, we remained in that error. "By God, surely we were in manifest error" — by God, we were in manifest error. In what way was our deed an error? In this: "when we made you equal with the Lord of the worlds." We ought to have feared God; we feared you. We ought to have been attentive to the command of God; we were attentive to your command. We ought to have striven toward God and for nearness to God; we strove for nearness to you. We ought to have sought our sustenance from God; we sought it from you. "When we made you equal with the Lord of the worlds" — we set you equal and on a par with the Lord of the worlds. "And none led us astray but the criminals." "So now we have no intercessors" — today we have no intercessor — "nor any loving friend" — and we have no compassionate friend. "If only we had a return, that we might be among the believers!" — would that there were for us a return to the world, so that we might become believers. "Surely in that there is a sign" — in this affair there is a sign; take heed. "Surely in that there is a sign" — in this saying, too, there is a sign. "But most of them are not believers." See here, in these verses, that the discourse was about persons whom the people had worshipped. Now look carefully at the words, and their worship comes into focus: they had fallen in behind these figures, had regarded them as equal to God, had sought from them what should be sought from God, and had given them the regard that, for God's sake, one ought not to give to anyone else.